Jack Wilshere has revealed an amazing phone call he made to Paul Scholes after being on the receiving end of a TV rant by the former England star.

Ex-Manchester United midfielder Scholes claimed Arsenal playmaker Wilshere had not improved since he was 17, is not a leader and that the Gunners “are a million miles away” from being a title winning team.

Wilshere, now 22, said: “It was a bit strange - out of the blue. I remember watching it. He was having a go at Arsenal and I was thinking, ‘Is he going to come for me?”

Afterwards, Wilshere sent England coach and Old Trafford icon Gary Neville a direct message on Twitter requesting his former United teammate’s number and, “He wrote back to me, ‘Just go easy on him.’”

As he prepares to help the north Londoners try to end a nine-year trophy drought by beating Hull in Saturday's FA Cup Final , Wilshere added: “We had quite a good chat. He is entitled to his opinion, I just wanted to know...

"If it had come from a less respected player, I could say, ‘What are you talking about’, but it came from Paul Scholes! So I wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"I spoke to him, he explained it a bit better and told me what he thought I should work on.

Wilshere revealed he thought long and hard before making the call, but has taken on board some valuable tips from Scholes.

“For the next few days after he said that, I sat down and talked to my dad and a few of the coaches here. I just wanted to hear what he thinks,” said Wilshere

“I respect him so much and I think he can make a great coach for any young player. I am a young player and he has been there and done it, so I wanted to hear what he had to say.

“He was right, in a certain way. When I first burst onto the scene there was all this noise [about me] and then I got injured. I have had bad luck with injuries but I can’t keep saying I’ve been injured a lot.

“There comes a time when you stop being a kid and I think that’s what he’s referring to - 'He’s young, he’s got all this potential, you have to start fulfilling that potential.'

“This season, I have improved a lot, scored a few more than I have in the past and got a few more assists. That side of things...

"You can keep the ball and you can look good but it’s those stats that matter. That’s what I have to build on.”